PNCR presidential candidate David Granger believes that it is women who will determine the outcome of the 2011 general elections and on Saturday called on the party’s women’s arm to start canvassing their needs.

Addressing a Special Women’s Convention organised by the National Congress of Women (NCW) on Saturday at Congress Place, the retired brigadier said women need to know that the party has not forsaken them.

“It’s not about politics, it’s not about race, it’s not about ethnicity, it’s not about geography … it’s a question of what is happening to our women in this country and I think once you get that message to women you’ll get their support and they’ll be empowered and you’ll get their vote,” he said.

He also promised that a PNCR electoral victory would see a 50 percent inclusion of women in government and an administration that works to address the needs of women and girls.

“When David Granger speaks about equality he means equality and I think some of our colleagues in the Joint Opposition Parties don’t understand what I mean when I say equality. Women are going to be put on an equal footing to men … you can’t be a partial virgin, you can’t be partially equal, it’s a total thing and this is what I promise you and this is what I’ll deliver,” Granger declared.

Guyana’s laws state that the total number of females on any party’s lists for geographic constituencies, taken together, must be at least one-third of the total of the lists, taken together, for the constituencies in which that party is contesting.

Granger stated that women are under-represented and that all of the developments the PNC had started for them in the 1970s were halted in the 1990s under the PPP administration. He added that there must be a society that allows women to do the things they traditionally do such as child bearing and still be equal partners in their contributions.

“The issue facing women today, comrades, is not whether they can get men to do their share … the issue is whether society or the state can provide the social services which enable women to perform their functions fully as citizens here on the coastland, in the hinterland or wherever they work.”

The PNCR presidential candidate said when the women’s issues are known the party will work to factor them into its manifesto.

Meanwhile, Granger also called for more to be done to keep girls in school saying it was through education they would be able to break the cycle of “hereditary poverty.”

“We will provide all of our girl children with real access to post-primary education and this is especially so for the hinterland areas where many still do not have access to primary education,” he said.

The former army chief also bemoaned the security sector’s response to domestic and sexual violence against women and girls adding that they need to be retrained if they are to protect women.

Granger has in the past also pledged to put in place policies to allow greater access to education and jobs for youths.

Prior to his address, PNCR Leader Robert Corbin delivered brief remarks in which he urged those gathered not to be swayed by the sudden benevolence of the administration which will manifest itself in new bridges and roads for communities previously ignored.

The party said Saturday’s event was convened to mobilise women for their role and participation in the upcoming general elections and brought together women from all 10 regions.